UPDATE 10/20: They were tied for a few days, but Pokemon Legends: Z-A's Metacritic score is now at 80, while Time Stranger's is at 79. User score wise, Time Stranger has demolished Z-A with 9.4 versus 4.4 at the time of this writing, but they continue to fluctuate.
The reviews are in, and it seems Pokemon Legends: Z-A has higher scores than Digimon Story: Time Stranger. The Pokemon vs. Digimon debate has been raging since the 90s, with the consensus seeming to be that while Digimon has the superior anime series, Pokemon has the superior games. With Pokemon Legends: Z-A and Digimon Story: Time Stranger releasing in the same month, it was inevitable that fans would compare the two.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A is the second entry in the Legends sub-series of Pokemon games, with this iteration taking place in the Kalos region's Lumiose City. Digimon Story: Time Stranger, meanwhile, is the latest game in the Story sub-series of Digimon titles that started all the way back in 2006 on the Nintendo DS. Pokemon Legends: Z-A features a brand-new real-time combat system, while Digimon Story: Time Stranger features more traditional turn-based combat. Digimon Story: Time Stranger earned mostly positive reviews at the time of its launch earlier this month and has been a huge sales success, but it still seems that Pokemon Legends: Z-A has beaten it in terms of review aggregate scores.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger Needs to Strike While the Iron is Hot
The release window for Digimon Story: Time Stranger is currently unknown, but it should aim to avoid some heavy hitters in its genre space.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A Reviews Compared to Digimon Story: Time Stranger
- Pokemon Legends: Z-A - 81
- Digimon Story: Time Stranger - 78
On Metacritic, Digimon Story: Time Stranger reviews have placed the game at a 78 overall critic rating. Pokemon Legends: Z-A, meanwhile, has an 81 overall score, meaning it beat Digimon Story: Time Stranger by three points. Now, there's still time for the review scores to fluctuate. It's possible that late reviews will come in for Digimon Story: Time Stranger that push its score up or down, and the same goes for Legends: Z-A. Still, it's unlikely that the scores will move too far from where they settled. Pokemon Legends: Z-A isn't out at the time of this writing and so it doesn't have a user score, but Time Stranger has a very impressive 9.2 user score, so it will be interesting to see how those numbers compare.
As far as sales go, it's likely safe to assume that Pokemon Legends: Z-A is going to ultimately sell more copies than Digimon Story: Time Stranger. That's not to say that Time Stranger's sales are weak. In fact, Digimon Story: Time Stranger was a big hit on Steam, with an all-time concurrent player count peak of over 83,000. We don't have exact sales numbers, but it's likely that the game also did well enough on PS5 and Xbox. However, the Pokemon brand speaks for itself. There has been some negative press about Pokemon Legends: Z-A after the latest leaks, but the game's strong review scores should calm the nerves of those that are on the fence about the game, and it's likely that it will sell very well. Its predecessor, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, sold nearly 15 million units at last count, making it one of the highest-selling individual releases in franchise history. We don't know if Z-A will be quite as big of a hit, but it should comfortably out-perform Time Stranger.
Even though Pokemon Legends: Z-A has beaten Time Stranger's review score and will most likely beat it in sales, there is new momentum behind the Digimon franchise that should propel the next game to do even better than Time Stranger. We know that there is a new Digimon mobile card game in the works, but no new console project has been announced at the time of this writing. As far as Pokemon goes, Legends: Z-A is right around the corner, while the Generation 10 Pokemon games are expected to release in 2026. If there two Pokemon and Digimon games ever release in such close vicinity again, one has to imagine it will be an even closer fight.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 79 /100 Critics Rec: 66%
- Released
- October 16, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
- Game Freak, Creatures Inc.
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo, The Pokemon Company
